Posted on 04/30/2008 9:27:20 AM PDT by BGHater
Brooklyn Park police were looking for a meth lab, but they found a fish tank and the chemicals needed to maintain it.
And a few hours later, when the city sent a contractor to fix the door the police had smashed open Monday afternoon, it was obvious the city was trying to fix a mistake. It happened while Kathy Adams was sleeping.
"And the next thing I know, a police officer is trying to get me out bed," she said.
Adams, a 54-year-old former nurse who said she suffers from a bad back caused by a patient who attacked her a few years ago, was handcuffed. So was her 49-year-old husband.
"They brought us here and said once we clear that area, you can sit down and you will not speak to each other," she said.
Police were executing a search warrant signed by Hennepin County Judge Ivy Bernhardson, who believed there was probable cause the Adams's home was a meth lab.
Berhardson, who was appointed to the bench less than a year ago, did not return KARE 11's phone calls.
"Ohmigod," Adams said as she recalled police breaking down her door and flashing the search warrant. "I just kept saying to them, 'you've got the wrong house.' "
Police soon realized that themselves.
"From a cursory view, it doesn't look like our officers did anything wrong," said Capt. Greg Roehl.
Roehl said the drug task force was acting on a tip from a subcontractor for CenterPoint Energy, who had been in the home Friday to install a hot water heater.
"He got hit with a chemical smell that he said made him light headed, feel kind of nauseous," Roehl said.
The smell was vinegar, and maybe pickling lime, which were clearly marked in a bathroom Mr. Adams uses to mix chemicals for his salt water fish tank.
"I said, 'I call it his laboratory for his fish tanks,' " Mrs. Adams said, recalling her conversation with the CenterPoint technician. "I'm looking at the fish tank talking to this guy."
Police say there was no extended investigation, just an interview with the subcontractor.
"Everything this person told us turned out to be true, with the exception of what the purpose of the lab was," Roehl said.
Adams is looking for a lawyer.
"I could say that about my neighbor - I smelled something when I went in their house," she said. "Does that make it right for them to go in there and break the door down and cuff you? I think not!"
Police say the detective who asked for the search warrant is an 8 ½-year veteran, but he just started working in the drug task force.
CenterPoint energy maintains the home was "unsafe" and it would have been "irresponsible" for the subcontractor not to report it.
Lucky she didn't have a dog that started barking. I like how a home maintenance contractor now has the authority to get a judge to sign a warrant for a no-knock raid. And how the cop chief says he sees "nothing wrong" with what happened. Frightening. The Fourth Amendment is dead.
I’d like to see a simple law...anytime the cops screw up on a house raid...they have to cough up $10k of the budget of the office and each cop on the raid loses three days of pay. At that point, they will stop screwing up and do the right job. There is no excuse these days for such “accidents”.
> Breaking and Entering, Assault with a Deadly Weapon, Using a Firearm during the Commission of a Crime, Conspiracy to Commit Felony Burglary, Violation of Privacy, Conspiracy to Violate ones privacy. Making a False Police report.
You forgot about the handcuffs: Assault and Battery. Aggravated Assault. Kidnapping...
> Every Single Person involved should be in Jail for LIFE without PAROLE. There is no Excuse for this type of raid unless there is CLEAR and CONVINCING EVIDENCE of a Crime.
Here in NZ the laws against Home Invasion (which is what this was, under “Color of Right”) are very strict indeed, and the punishments quite severe. Gaol would be a likely outcome for anyone doing this OTHER THAN A COP WITH A WARRANT. More is the pity!
> I hope She sues everyone involved and ends up Owning the company that Filed this False Report.
Energy company and the Cops: nice deep pockets. She should be able to retire now. That is, if there is any Justice in this world.
What happened was wrong, and needs to be made right... but at the same time we have some real drama queens here on FR replying to this thread.
Amazingly...I heard this comment come out of the mouth of a public defender when I was helping to prosecute a 5 time felon who had attacked me just months earlier.
Yeah. Unfortunately, what we have today is precisely the opposite. Law enforcement agencies now get to keep, in their budgets, the assets seized in these types of raids. Taking homes, cars, boats, jewelry is mighty tempting. Especially when there is no penalty whatsoever by occassionally breaking into the wrong house. Unless they wind up killing innocents -- they draw the line there. For now, at least.
Drama queens? Are you keeping up with current events?
These botched raids are happenining with frightening regularity.
You are not concerned that a home improvement contractor now has the power to get a judge to sign a warrant for a no knock raid? Wow.
“What happened was wrong, and needs to be made right...”
What’s your solution? New hinges on the door and a scripted apology from some government suit?
Agreed. The victims should get compensation and a heartfelt apology, but there’s no need for the Cops to be locked away for life or nonsense like that.
Still breaking-in his jackboots (along with some doors.)
You’re now Private Greg Roehl...
Did you not read my first sentence? You purposly ignored it so that your party dress would shine even more!
In answer to your rhetorical question that had already been answered... yes, I'm concerned with that, and I'm also concerned that people on FR think that a cop who is handed a search warrant and told to go do his duty should be thrown in jail for life. That's what you guys are saying, and I have no words to describe what I think of that attitude that my mother would approve of.
My solution is to sanely fix the problem. The drama queen solution is to throw the cops, who are following orders and doing their sworn duty, in prison for life.
In a "police state" they can do what ever they want on a hunch.
check it out.
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